Taare Zameen Par - My take on it

Never had a film had such a deep impact on me in the recent past. It is an amazing film and everyone must watch it. The gist and the meaning of the film is not just appilcable to dyslexic children, but it is applicable at every point of life. Everybody is special in his or her own way. Why don't we accept it and respect the person? Why do we try to make everyone into a rat and put him into the ratrace?

The movie traces Ishant and his true potential is dicovered by his art teacher Nikumbh. When we are children we are pushed into doing a lot of things, whether we like it or not. In the film, Youhan was the best in everything. But was he happy? Did he really want to do it all? In the tennis finals he lost and his father is ashamed of his child, the person who excels and does his best everywhere so that father's ego is satisfied. Isn't this all what we faced and is it not true that we will do the same to our children? Push, push and push them to excel and not enjoy, to win and not celebrate.

At the premier B-Schools, all are pushed into getting the best job, highest paying jobs by their peers, seniors, relatives and nearest family members. Maybe even the student wants it, but is he/she capable to get it? Is it worth all their worth? Won't they be more satisfied in doing something they like? Thankfully now people are realising it and have started the placement holiday window.

And it is not just about doing things for yourself. The film also encourages to help others as much as possible. Take out some time for others' happiness as well. Try to understand their problems and offer a supporting shoulder if not anything.

A great film. Must watch for everybody.

The Walk

Today I had gone to Core House, which is Professor Sunil Handa's office. it is a seven storey building in gray with dark glasses. we had gone there for our last session of LEM over there. While returning back I thought why not take a walk back to college. I had walked back half the distance two-three times before so thought I would do this as well. Ofcourse i had no idea how much time it would take but I was in no hurry to get back to campus! I guessed it would take half an hour or so.

On leaving the compund, I turned to left and walked down the road. A nice small clean road. At its perpendicular road I turned to right. There I observed one strucure which was constructed very differently. I guess it must be a Vimal Patel structure, as it was in concrete with the curves. It was done very beautifully. Cars were parked infornt of the structure. I could not find out what it was used for, just by observing! Another lane another building. This too had very different structure and was colourful as well. this was when i started comparing buldings in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. In Ahmedabad the buildings are very colorful and also the shapes of the structures are very different, which is not the case in Mumbai. Then I realised that even in Surat, the buildings were very colourful and and of different shapes. So what is that which makes the architecture of a region fundamentally different from that in another state? Is it due to the culture of the people? Is Mumbai more business-minded than Ahmedabad or Surat? Do people in Surat enjoy having pleasure with business? I will have to study the cultures more closely to be able to comment on it. Perhaps it is the state culture.

On the way there were earthern ware vendors with beautiful diyas and pots. Had they come only for Diwali or are they here always? I think I have seen them before as well, so they are here permanantly. So many buyers were flocking there to check out the diyas and buy them. Then there were so many common place shops, like kirana stores with notices like 'Goods once sold will not be taken back'. The store owner looked unfazed whether his store would survive or not, while we at our B-school spend hours discussing and preparing reports on modern retail gobbling up kirana stores. Do we really understand the ground reality? Are we relying too much on theories rather than checking the reality?

Well I started writing this post a long ago, but finished it in bits and pieces. I dont remember much of the rest of the walk, however it was few of the pleasantest moments I had. I was alone to reflect on things and observe things. I could enjoy the common life which people live outside our hallowed campus walls. Well such is the human nature, one loves and wants what one does not have and once we have it, we want some other thing. And life goes on!

Dear Sir

The contents are penned by a batchmate of mine, a fellow LEMmer, Vikash. It is very good, hence sharing with all.

sadaiv swayam pe vishwaas rakho
kabhi lakshya se peechhe na hato

sir, this aint the end nor is this gurudakshina
this is just a token of love and appreciation for giving us prerna

u made us realize, and definitely, we will do great
please accept this from LEM class of Two Thoudsand and Eight